Malcolm Braff and JYM Jazz-Trio

Photo: Schweizer Musikpreis

Malcolm Braff, born in Brazil, grew up in Cape Verde and Senegal. He started classical piano lessons at the age of six. In 1982 he came to Switzerland, where he studied at the music schools of Neuchâtel and Geneva until 1986. In 1991, he formed his first jazz trio (a quartet with Pascal Portner and Marcello Giuliani), and the following year saw the release of his first album as a bandleader. Since 1994, he has regularly appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival as a band member or soloist. In 1997, he formed the quintet C.O.M.B.O. (with Bänz Oester, Olivier Clerc, Yaya Ouattara, Matthieu Michel), with whom he recorded the album Together for Blue Note two years later. Since then, he has led several of his own formations, including the trio Braff - Oester - Rohrer, the Malcolm Braff Trio (with Alex Blake and Yaya Ouattara), the Malcolm Braff & TNT Tentet and Malcolm Braff & Ensemble Contrechamps. Braff also works in a duo with Samuel Blaser, among other projects, and is a member of the Erik Truffaz & Malcolm Braff Indian Project and Andy Scherrer's Swiss South African Jazz Quintet. Steff Rohrbach writes about Malcolm Braff, who, in addition to his work as a musician, has also distinguished himself as an inventor of board games for which he has received awards: ‘The playing Malcolm’ – this brief but likeable self-definition hits the mark. ‘The playing Malcolm’ expresses what probably makes Malcolm Braff tick to a large extent: playing, being playful, winning. (...) Playing, or rather winning, through which Malcolm, as he says, really perceives and experiences the music - much more than through listening, he is convinced in his own mind.’

Photo: Anna Bregenzer

The small jazz band with an inclusive background (special school graduate, employee in a curative education institution, director of an institution for people in need of support) was founded in 2023. The band's focus is on improvisation. They also play various jazz standards and their own pieces. Jürg Bregenzer, 1956, (piano). Trained as a carpenter, handicrafts teacher, curative teacher and in a managerial role at a social education institution. 1965-72 piano lessons with various music teachers. Various music projects, 12 years as organist in the parish of Lengwil. Member of the quartet ‘Jazzlabor’. Yannick Hubacher, 1993, (drums) School education and carpentry apprenticeship at Ekkharthof. Does material transport for the institution. Drum lessons with Ramon Hegi. Since 2009 drummer in the Tägerwilen music association. Meinrad Rutschmann, 1962, (saxophone) Training and studies as a curative teacher, leading role in the field of forensics. Music lessons trombone (1978-1982) then change to saxophone. Various music projects, currently a band member, ‘Chasing Mondays’ in Konstanz and in the quartet, ‘Jazzlabor’.